Mary McCarthy's final chapter begins with a series of memories regarding her grandmother. The further the memories are placed in the time, the less Mary remembers about them. The memories become more specific as they become more recent. This is a realistic representation of how the memory works. The further back in the time the memory is, the more trouble a person may have remember details. For example, Mary first recalls her grandmother's gray electric, the way it looked, and the many instances in which it pulled up to her house. The last memory in the series is specifically oriented around the time that her parents died of the flu. She remembers her grandmother's sobs. Then, she remembers a vision of her grandmother five years later when she returns to Seattle.
"I did not see her again until five years later, when she was standing in the depot in Seattle in a hat with a black dotted veil, pulled tight across her face, which was heavily rouged and powdered. By this time, I knew that she was my grandmother, that she was Jewish, and died her hair."
(Page 202)
Mary's memories become clearer as well as the amount of knowledge that she knows about her grandmother. Before this memory, Mary could barely note that she was related to her. Are there any other points in the autobiography in which you believe the writing mimics Mary's memory/ability to recall events and information?
~Megan
"I did not see her again until five years later, when she was standing in the depot in Seattle in a hat with a black dotted veil, pulled tight across her face, which was heavily rouged and powdered. By this time, I knew that she was my grandmother, that she was Jewish, and died her hair."
(Page 202)
Mary's memories become clearer as well as the amount of knowledge that she knows about her grandmother. Before this memory, Mary could barely note that she was related to her. Are there any other points in the autobiography in which you believe the writing mimics Mary's memory/ability to recall events and information?
~Megan
